The processing characteristics of Nigerian pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan L.)

This study sorts to improve the utilisation of pigeon pea as a ready-to-eat expanded snack food by investigating it’s processing characteristics under different environments. Existing literature suggests that pigeon peas, as reported for other legumes, could be difficult to cook due to their lack of hydration and the time required for softening during heating. These difficulties were attributed to the presence of seed coat, cell wall materials and some anti-nutritional factors. During these studies, the physicochemical characteristics of three commercial varieties of Nigerian pigeon pea (white Agatu, red Agatu and Bayelsa) were determined to select a variety appropriate for development of a snack. A high specific density (1.26 g/ml) of the seed suggested that the seeds’ native matrix and components are densely packed with limited voids between structures. Among the findings of this study include contrary to the earlier reports, that the hard to cook textural defect of pigeon pea was equally because of the presence of the seed coat and cell wall, the seed coat did not show to have posed any difficulty in the hydration of the seed. The seed coat easily detached from the cotyledon within 30 minutes of soaking in water after taking its own weight in water. However, the cotyledon weight only increased by 29%. Although soaking and dehulling altered the chemical composition of the seed but the protein, starch and fibre content still showed appropriate values for the production of healthy snacks. As no significant differences (P